Doctors warn Zimbabwe’s health care could face collapse as hospitals find themselves overwhelmed amid rising Covid cases

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After the Christmas holidays, Zimbabwe saw an increase in Covid-19 infections and deaths, fueling fears of an already fragile healthcare system.

The government has urged citizens to adhere to the blockade, which includes movement restrictions on all services except the most essential ones.

The reopening of schools has been postponed indefinitely, following a Covid-19 outbreak in schools last quarter, while stores will only open until three in the afternoon daily.

There is also a curfew at dawn to avoid meetings and nightly events.

The hosts of a New Year’s Eve night dance concert that violated the previous ban on gatherings of more than 100 people were jailed on Monday for six months by a Zimbabwean court.

The party attracted thousands of maskless partygoers to the country’s oldest municipality, Mbare.
On Tuesday, Zimbabwe recorded 1,365 new cases and 34 deaths, according to daily updates from the Ministry of Health. As of January 5, Zimbabwe had recorded 17,194 cases and 418 deaths, according to the ministry but there is concern that the number of cases may be significantly higher due to poor evidence.

The Association of Physicians for Human Rights of Zimbabwe (ZADHR) says the country’s hospitals cannot cope with the rising demand for admissions in a new report released on Wednesday.

“ZADHR notes with concern the low capacity of local health centers to accommodate cases in need of treatment. The continued increase in new infections has caused hospitals to be overwhelmed and not respond to the increase in the number of hospital admissions related to COVID. -19 “, said the body.

The organization is also concerned about an increase in infections among front-line workers. About 1,000 front-line workers have been infected by Covid-19 in Zimbabwe due to lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), according to doctors.

“Our conservative estimates point to more than 1000 health workers being infected with COVID-19.

African leaders were forced to confront the health systems they had set aside for years

Medical associations have continued to highlight the worrying trends of health workers working without adequate PPE, ”ZADHR said.

Doctors also sounded the alarm about the limited ability to care for critically ill patients in need of intensive care, while inpatient beds remain low.

“ZADHR condemns in the strongest possible terms the sad situation of the limited capacity of the ICU almost ten months after the detection of the first COVID-19 case,” the doctors said.

However, Zimbabwe’s information secretary Nick Mangwana told CNN that the government “is at the forefront of the situation”.

“Right now, our capacity is not extended. However, we are facing a fluid situation in which if a front-line worker gives a positive, it affects capacity.”

“The reason I said this could overwhelm us is that people were not complying with the blocking rules, so we saw the storm coming,” Mangwana said.

Zimbabwean billionaire pays doctors on strike to return to work

Last year Zimbabwean doctors took the government to court over the inability to supply PPE and other security equipment.

Zimbabwe’s health care system has been plagued by headwinds due to lack of funding, with health workers clashing with the government over poor and often unpaid wages.

Last year, billionaire Strive Masiyiwa intervened to get doctors back to work after months of horse-trading with authorities.

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